For Empty Hearts, music a labor of love

Jessica Selby
Posted 10/15/14

Key members of several iconic rock groups will be making an appearance at the Park Theatre this weekend.

Newly formed band The Empty Hearts – made up of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Clem …

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For Empty Hearts, music a labor of love

Posted

Key members of several iconic rock groups will be making an appearance at the Park Theatre this weekend.

Newly formed band The Empty Hearts – made up of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Clem Burke from Blondie, two-time Grammy nominee and guitarist Elliot Easton from The Cars, bassist Andy Babiuk from The Chesterfield Kings and lead singer/rhythm guitarist Wally Palmar from The Romantics – will be performing their new album in its entirety on Sunday, Oct. 19, along with several songs from their past projects.

According to Burke, the album, which was released on Aug. 5, features a dozen original songs that were composed by the band members collectively.

“This band is a real labor of love for us,” Burke said. “We all do other things, but there aren’t really many bands around anymore that play our style of music. We pull from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s …We take from those greats that came before us and we are making it our own.”

Burke said Bruce Springsteen is a big role model for him, but the band as a whole has had a great life in the music industry and brought a great deal to the table when forming the new group. Burke alone has sold more than 40 million records during his past endeavors.

“We’ve all had a long history in the music business creating songs everyone knows and loves, like [The Romantics’] ‘What I Like About You,’ [and The Cars’] ‘Just What I Needed’ and ‘My Best Friend’s Girl,’” Burke said. “I have had several hit records with Blondie. We just finished playing at Hyde Park in London, and we have done several music festivals this summer.”

As a new band, Burke said that he is not expecting music lovers and concert enthusiasts to be automatically aware of who The Empty Hearts are, but he is hopeful that the word will spread so fans can see the group perform.

Burke said he and the rest of the members of The Empty Hearts are eager to perform at the Park Theatre before embarking on their overseas tour. At the end of this month, they will be heading to Japan.

“We are going to do four shows in Japan, and then we plan on continuing our tour around the States,” Burke said. “We are developing quite a following in the U.K., and we’ve had some great stuff said about us online. People seem really receptive to it.

“We are a new band – we are not expecting to be an overnight success,” he continued. “I know it takes a long time to build up, but we are full-time musicians, this is what we choose to do for a living and we love it,” Burke said. “Music is like oxygen – everyone needs it. I feel like we are just lucky enough to be the ones to give it to people.”

Tickets for The Empty Hearts performance can be obtained by calling the Park Theatre Box office at 467-7275 or visiting www.parktheatreri.com. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.

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